proceed; but musters courage to do so under the recollection that he is performing the request of his mother.

But was the conduct of his mother excusable? The vain apology has been attempted for her, that she understood that it was the Divine intention that her younger son should have the preference; and, moreover, that she had been made acquainted with the transaction which had taken place between the brothers, whence she concluded that Jacob had the prior right to his father's blessing. At that rate she practised, or, rather, induced her son to practise, what has been called "a pious fraud." But a pious fraud there cannot be; and the morality which teaches that men may do evil that good may come, is essentially bad, and should never be allowed. Rebekah, however, was not, it is probable, fully conscious of her error.

Urged, then, by his mother, Jacob presented himself before Isaac his father, and said, My father!" The eyes of the old man were dim, so that he could not see; but he knew that it was one of his sons who addressed him, and he replied, "Here am I; who art thou, my son?"

Jacob answered, "I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me." Isaac expressed his surprise that he had obtained the venison so soon; but Jacob said the Lord had brought it to him; when his father, still suspicious of some deception, said, "Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not."

Esau, it will be remembered, was a rough and hairy man, whilst Jacob was a smooth man ; but Rebekah, to prevent discovery, had put the skins of the kids upon Jacob's hands, and upon his neck, so that the ordeal of Isaac's touch he was prepared to undergo. He therefore went near, and his father felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

"O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"

It has often almost every appearance of truth; and yet there is always something in it to condemn it. So was it in this case. Rebekah had forgotten the difference of voice in

Esau and Jacob; and this one thing it was which made Isaac hesitate. He was overcome, however, and he ate of his son's venison; and Jacob brought him wine, and he drank.

But for the deception connected with it, we should look upon this scene with pleasurable interest. "Come near now, and kiss me, my son," said the aged patriarch. And Jacob drew near, and kissed him; "and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him" in the following terms :—

"See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed :

Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, And the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine :

Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to

thee:

Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee:

Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

(Genesis xxvii. 27—29.)

Jacob was clad in Esau's raiment; which some suppose to have been a robe worn only on special occasions, and therefore called "goodly

raiment," (ver. 15,) and to have been highly perfumed with aromatic drugs, a custom, as Mr. Roberts, in his "Oriental Illustrations of the Scriptures," informs us, adopted by the natives of India, who use for this purpose camphor, civet, sandal-wood, and a great variety of highly-scented water. Hence, some people know their children by their smell; and it is common for a mother or a father to say, "Ah, child, thy smell is like the Sen-Paga-Poo." * And of an amiable man it is said, "How sweet is the smell of that man! The smell of his goodness is universal."

Highly expressive, then, were the words of Isaac, and full of the beautiful poetry of the East. The smell of Jacob was like that of a field blessed of the Lord, and bringing forth abundance of odoriferous herbs. And to him his father gave, by prophecy, the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine, together with lordship over all his brethren; a prophecy which was fulfilled in the history of his descendants, when they obtained possession of the land of Canaan, and * A flower sacred to Chrisna.